


Love Under the Stars

by StuckInTheStars



Category: Actor RPF, Chris Evans - Fandom, Chris Evans/Sebastian Stan - Fandom, Evanstan - Fandom, Sebastian Stan - Fandom
Genre: Evanstan - Freeform, Falling In Love, Hayley Atwell Cameo - Freeform, He's from Romania, M/M, Minor Frank Grillo/Sebastian Stan - Freeform, Roommates, Seb with Romanian accent!!, Seb's an Exchange Student, slowly?, they're in college
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-07-19 08:57:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7354375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StuckInTheStars/pseuds/StuckInTheStars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seb is foreign student at Chris’s college from Romania. At Bucks-Grant University, Seb has trouble fitting in until Chris reaches out to him as his friend. Soon they become the best-est of friends. When Seb becomes Chris's dorm roommate after an incident, their relationship gets closer, and maybe even a little intimate. Seb's looking for the stars, and Chris is a hopeless romantic. What do you get when you put them together? A little love under the stars.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay this is my first fic, so I hope it's not too bad! ;)  
> Oh! And I tried to make Seb’s english kinda choppy so he would sound more foreign please don’t get offended or mad at me! ahhh i’m sorry if you get offended that's not my intention! I'm probably going to improve his english so it's easier to write as I go but for the beginning just bare with me here!  
> I'll mention any trigger warnings here, so make sure to read the notes in case there's something important! I want you all to enjoy the fic as much as possible!  
> So that's it, welcome to Love Under the Stars, have fun reading and I hope you enjoy!! :D

“Mamă, eu voi fi bine”

“Sunteți sigur că vrei să faci asta? Ai o bursă completă la școală la domiciliu.”

“Nu, vreau să învețe limba engleză și de studiu în străinătate, iar american este în cazul în care NASA. Au fost pe Lună!”

“Ok , fii atent . Te iubesc foarte mult.”

“Uh.. Good..bye Mamă!” a boy with chocolate colored hair waved back to a woman who looked almost too young to be his mother. But she was. And he loved her so much. They did everything together, and for the first time, he was leaving, for a long time. For school. In America. New York, to be precise.

He tilted his head as he smiled, showing the mini fangs he was always so insecure about. He tried not to show his teeth when he smiled, but it was always worth making someone he loved smile back. The amount of luggage he was bringing brought concern to his mother’s face. A backpack that seemed to only be half full, and a black duffel bag that was smaller than the ones some people bring to the gym. But to him, it was everything he needed. Well, it was all he… had. Just the necessities, and nothing more. Some clothes, books, photos, packages of these cookies he always bought at the market on his way home from school. They reminded him of home, so he thought he would bring some in case he got anxious.

As soon as his mom left in the back of a taxi, he headed inside the airport, the first step towards his journey to the United States. Unfortunately, he was one of the last passengers to board the plane, which led to much trouble getting to his seat, but he was carrying so little he didn’t even need to use the upper compartments everybody fought for. And… he was assigned the window seat! With only one other passenger in his row! A very beautiful girl, with almost the same chocolate hair as he.

“Hello!” her voice was bright, it almost made him jump back. By her accent, he could tell that she was obviously from the states.

“Uhm… h-hello?” This was his chance to practice his English!

“Oh! Are you from Romania?” she asked as he scooted past her into his seat.

“Yes.” He scratched his head awkwardly.

“Your accent is adorable! It’s different from my cousin’s! That’s who I was visiting.”

His legs were too long to fit comfortably in the tiny space he had, so he turned towards the empty middle seat and stretched his feet out, one in front of the other.

“Uhm, maybe she is from different… area of Romania?”

“Oh,” the girl chuckled, her cheeks matched the rose purse in her lap. “She’s from Sibiu. What about you? Oh, and I’m Hayley, by the way.”

“I’m from Constanța. And my name is Sebastian.”

“Nice to meet you, Sebastian. That’s such a nice name!”

“Hayley is too. A nice name.” Sebastian ran his fingers through his hair, unaware it was something he did every time he got nervous. His tongue moved in an awkward way, speaking words he never spoke to anyone before, pronouncing the letters differently, it was all so new. And for the next year, he would have to get used to it. All he wanted was for one of his friends to be on the plane with him, so he could speak in his native language, talk about his favorite shows, his favorite foods, everything he couldn’t talk about with this new girl he just met… who was talking while Sebastian was developing a homesick feeling in his stomach. He heard nothing of the stuff Hayley was saying.

“Uhm.. sorry… repeat?”

“Oh, I was asking why you’re going to America? You don’t have to share if you don’t want to.”

“Oh, it’s okay.” Sebastian covered his stomach with his hands, as if to trap his anxiousness inside. “I want to go to America…to study. I am going to study the stars. It’s my… favorite.”

“The stars? Are you into astronomy?”

“Uhm yes. Astro…no…my.”

“I’m sorry. Your english is just so cute!”

Sebastian shifted in his seat, both embarrassed and content at the same time. She had a really nice accent too, but he waited too long to say anything, and there was an awkward silence.

“But that’s really interesting! I’ve never met a guy who’s into astronomy. What do you like about it?”

“What do I like? About… de stars?”

“Yea,” Hayley leaned in towards Sebastian, her eyes looking into his, overflowing with interest. Sebastian subtly slid back into his seat, further away.

“I like how we have all this, computers? And we can see all the stars and planets, but yet, we know nothing about many of them. My goal in America is… to search more about it.”

After the conversation died down, Seb spent the next ten hours sleeping, or at least trying to. He hated, no, abhorred planes. Even after landing, he still had cramps in his hands from gripping the seat when the plane shifted in turbulence, or when the plane began tilting forward in landing. He just wanted to get away from the planes and the airport as soon as possible.

Once he stepped out of the airport sliding doors, the nightmare begun. He watched all the movies about people visiting New York for the first time, and every one of them had a scene where they were desperately trying to hail a taxi, and ultimately failing. And then a stranger would pull up and give them a ride. But Sebastian wasn’t in a movie, there was no hot stranger that was going to pull up and ask if he needed a ride. No, he had to do this on his own. He watched the other travelers disappear as they got into their own yellow cars and left leaving a puff of smoke in the air. Even though everyone else was yelling, scrambling around looking for family, jumping in the street to stop taxis, Sebastian felt embarrassed just to reach out his hand in attempt to get his own ride. Was coming here alone really a good idea? Sebastian really needed a cookie. And it would’ve been great if his mom were there too.

“Need help?” Hayley was behind him, tapping his shoulder and wearing a big smile.

“I need a taxi.” Seb felt relieved to see a sort of familiar face, even if it was one he met ten hours ago.

“It’s always a hassle leaving the airport. Wanna share a cab with me?”

“Uhm… Are you go-”

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell the driver we’re going to separate places.”

Sebastian nodded, ran his fingers through his hair and obediently followed her to a taxi near the front of the pick-up area.

“Thank you.” Sebastian chirped, but Hayley didn’t respond.  
Probably didn’t hear him. He put his head down feeling awkward and kept walking. He waited for her to get in the cab first before getting in himself, holding the door open like a gentleman.

“Can you drop me off at Manhattan Mall?” she leaned toward the driver. “And he’s going to… where are you going?”

“Uh- uh- Bucks-Grant University.”

“What?” the driver leans his head back.

“BGU.” Hayley says in a volume ten times louder than Sebastian’s. This was not going to be a fun experience for Sebastian if everybody in America couldn’t hear him when he spoke.

The taxi jolted forward, launching Seb into the back of the driver’s seat. He immediately sat back and buckled up, before the car took off.

“Why are you going to mall?” Sebastian asked, his eyes blinking and lips pressed together.

“Oh, I’m just… meeting some friends there. What about you? Do you have any friends here?”

“Oh, uh- no. I don’t know anybody.”

“Well, is it okay if I was your first American friend? Well, technically I’m British, but I live here, so it still counts!” She had an excited look on her face, waiting for Sebastian to answer.  
“Yea, that would be nice!”

“uhm…” Hayley looked around in her purse and pulled out a pen, and then grabbed a travel brochure from the pocket of the seat in front of her. Quickly, she scribbled out her number and handed it to Sebastian. “Here’s my number. Feel free to call me if you ever need help!”

The taxi slowed to a stop as Sebastian reached out for the brochure. “Thank-“

“I’ll see you around!” Hayley stepped out of the taxi, extended the handle of her luggage and disappeared into the crowd of people surrounding the huge building, which must’ve been the mall. Even though Sebastian was practically lying on his stomach in the back seat, he couldn’t see the top of the building. They never had buildings this tall in Constanța, everything was very delicate and small, but very colorful. This building was rather dull, and very beige.

For the first time, Sebastian was seeing the famous skyscrapers of New York City, and for some reason, there was a civil war going on inside his body. He couldn’t tell if he was nervous, happy, excited, or even scared. All these emotions fighting over each other, but his nerves came out on top. Questions started flying through his head. What if I don’t fit in? What if I can’t make friends? Why am I so bad at making friends? What if I’m the dumbest one there because I can’t speak English?

It’s almost as if his nerves sped up time, because the more he didn’t want to get to his destination, the faster the taxi seemed to be going.

It all went by in a blur, getting out of the car, paying the driver, being dragged into his new school by some over enthusiastic professor that “always wanted to travel to Romania” and never stopped talking about his one time he went to Russia, and how that was pretty similar. Sebastian rolled his eyes subtly, but continued to listen as he walked down a hallway filled with decorated doors, passing students running around with toilet paper rolls and blankets. Like children. At the end of the hall, the professor turned to him, introducing him to his room for the next year.

“This will be your dorm room, your new roommate should already be inside.” He knocked on the door before opening it a few seconds later, another trait that made Sebastian cringe. He always waited for the person to reply before opening the door!

“Yea, come in.” A voice called out when the door was already halfway open.

“Hi, this is your roommate Sebastian, the one from Romania.” He looked at Sebastian as if he were showing him off.

“Oh hey. I’m Frank. Grillo.”

“Sebastian Stan.” he spoke slowly with a weak voice, afraid his accent would be too heavy to understand.

“Dude, you have an awesome accent!”

“Thanks!” Sebastian said a bit louder.

“It’s like, Russian, almost.”

Sebastian’s smile faded. He chuckled awkwardly.

“Where you from again?”

“Constanța, Romania.”

“Isn’t that were the vampires are from? That’s cool.”

Sebastian was definitely not prepared if he was going to have to deal with this every time he met someone new. He walked over to the empty bed and dropped his bag onto the mattress. The bag didn’t even bounce, it was as if it landed on hard concrete. A little concerned, he sat down, thinking they must’ve just glued sponges together to make the beds.

“They told me I should show you around campus.”

“Huh?”

“Do you want to see the school?”

“Oh, yes. Can you show me around?”

Frank tilted his head at Sebastian, studying him before giving a smile. Wow, his teeth were so white, it made Sebastian jealous.

“Okay let’s go. Do you, wanna get changed or anything?”

Sebastian looked down at his current attire, a plain white t-shirt with jeans, nothing special.

“No, it’s okay.”

“Alright, it’s just that it gets pretty hot out here sometimes, hope you packed shorts!”

He didn’t know what to respond with, so Sebastian just laughed, running his fingers through his hair.

Frank walked him through the housing buildings, showed him the ones that were girls only, and that he couldn’t enter those, and then the other guy’s building, the co-ed building, and then the commons building, where everyone went to get food or buy supplies. The coolest thing was in the building Frank and Sebastian were sleeping in, there was a button at the center of the lobby which automatically ordered pizza when you hit it. He was definitely going to put that to use.

They walked for a bit until they reached the school buildings.

“Shit! I forgot to ask, do you have your schedule?”

Sebastian checked his pockets and luckily, his class schedule was in the back left.

“And sorry, is it okay if I curse? I don’t wanna offend you, or anything?”

“No, it’s fine.” Sebastian admired that he asked, making sure he was comfortable.

“Okay, let’s see. You’re studying astronomy? That’s so cool! Way more cool than law.”

“Are you going to be a lawyer?”

“Well, it’s either that or something with the government. I haven’t decided yet, I keep switching sides.”

“Oh…”

“But I think we’re taking the same history class! U.S. History 3! I thought you’d take European History or something.”

“No, I like learning about the U.S. I can study Europe at home, so I thought’d I do something different.”

“And… you’re taking an art class? Why?”

“I dunno, it seems easy, and relaxing, and I’ve already filled the other requirements back when I was in school at home.”

“Wait, seriously? You can do that?”

“Well, we’re in the last year of school, right? I thought I would do more classes before, so I could have it easier now. And work on my language and focus on astronomy and other things.”

“That’s actually really smart, can’t believe I didn’t think of that.” Frank scratched the back of his head and scrunched his nose.

Sebastian just chuckled.

Back at the dorm, Frank was sprawled across his own bed watching sports videos at full volume, while Sebastian laid out all his belongings on his own bed. A couple of t-shirts, which, Sebastian just realized, were all the same except the color. Navy blue, black, grey and white. He had the jeans he was wearing now, a pair of black dress pants and a black button up shirt, if he ever needed something fancier. He had some black and white striped socks, blue ones with stars and planets, and for some reason he brought neon green ones. There were also his other necessities, toothbrush, boxers, basically everything his mom packed. Which was also why he had more boxers than actual pants. He knew he could do this. Live in a foreign country, basically on his own, he could do this. He was going to make friends, look, he already met Frank, who seemed pretty nice. He was going to learn about his favorite subject, and maybe even get an opportunity to work at NASA when it was all over. Sebastian knew for a fact that there was an adventure ahead of him, and even though he felt the butterflies beginning to flutter in his stomach, he was excited to begin his journey.

 

 

Some pics go with the story :)

Seb's outfit for his first day in America

 

Frank brings Seb to a welcome back to college party, they meet Anthony!

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> okay so this is Seb’s “real” first day in America, he goes off to explore Times Square and sees NYC for the first time. And he’s so adventurous he has no problem doing it alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone has any requests or ideas, feel free to share! I'm open to anything if it fits in the story :)
> 
> (I’m using google translate for the Romanian dialogue, so I apologize if it is inaccurate!)  
> And ALso, I changed Seb’s class from US History 1 to USH 3. Not a big deal, just wanted to put it out there in case it looked like a mistake.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING: THERE”S A BULLYING SCENE IN THIS CHAPTER! IT’s not TOOOO INTENSE BUT ITS THERE.

It was so weird for Sebastian, to get up in the morning, and find that there was someone else, a man sleeping right across the room. That, and the 7 hour time difference. His eyelids were heavy, as he could only open them halfway. He felt his hair sticking straight up, and as it fell over his face when he threw his head forward into his lap. He remembered going to a senior welcome back party with Frank last night, and although he didn’t drink, he still felt a bit hungover. He convinced himself it was probably from the flight. The most prominent memory from that night was meeting Anthony, another senior who was majoring in psychology, one day he wanted to help PTSD victims and promote world peace. Sebastian could only understand some of the English, but he definitely admired Anthony, and supported his cause. Sebastian remembered growing up during a time of revolution in Romania, chaos waiting for him right outside his childhood home. He hated hearing the sounds of people yelling, and fighting each other. It was just a nightmare he could never escape as a child. Seeing Anthony’s bright and cheerful personality, Sebastian knew he could accomplish something great.

Even though he could’ve had 2 extra hours of sleep, he always woke up a six back at home. He needed some continuity, because pretty much everything else about his life had changed. He also needed a shower. He threw the plain white sheets to the side and shuffled slowly off the bed. The cheap, blue carpet felt rough and scratchy under his feet, like velcro. As quietly as he could, he grabbed his clothes and tiptoed past a sound asleep Frank and over to the bathroom. 

There were two switches, one for the light and I guess one for the venting system. Sebastian didn’t want to wake Frank up, so he was going to have to guess which one turned the light one. Hoping luck was on his side, he flipped the one on the right. Nope. He jumped at the sudden loudness and quickly flipped the switch back off. He leaned out to check if Frank was awake, but his roommate was still sleeping soundly, even letting out a soft snore. Phew. If that didn’t wake him up, he could consider the running water to be pretty much silent. 

 

He closed the door, which was pretty heavy, and flipped the left switch, turning on the yellow-tinted light. He set his clean clothes and towel down next to the sink and tried to figure out how the shower worked.

Five minutes later, he got it to a reasonable temperature, he wasn’t sure how, but he was too tired to care. Stripping down naked, he threw the clothes he was wearing, the same white t-shirt from the day before and his boxers, onto the tile floor. He stared at his body in the mirror, shamelessly flexing his abs before jumping under the running water. 

He moved his fingers through his hair, now soaking wet, and let the water run from his head down to the shower floor, following the curves creating his cheekbones, drops running from his chin down to the crevices of his collarbones, down to his chest and further below. 

Unknowingly flexing his back muscles as he massaged the back of his neck under soothing warm water. He felt so relaxed, his fingers working to undo the cramps from the plane ride.

The water trickled down his legs, which gave Sebastian a feeling of company, as if someone were running their hands down his thighs and wrapping the warmth of their fingers around his ankles. He craved it, he needed to be touched. 

“Futu-i…” he moaned, realizing how alone he was and how much he needed someone to be with. Steam filled the room, and Sebastian just wanted to be in the shower forever, the water felt so good against his skin. 

Almost half and hour later, Sebastian decided it was time to get out. The steam and the high temperature was also making him a bit light-headed. He fumbled with the shower knobs for a bit and finally got the water to stop. 

The patted the towel gently against his body, before beginning to dress. The same pair of jeans, but a gray shirt this time. It was a pain getting dressed in the steamy room, but he wasn’t sure if Frank was comfortable with seeing him shirtless. When he walked out of the bathroom, Frank was still on his bed, but awake, face timing somebody on the phone. 

“Hey Seb! Can, I call you Seb?”

“Uhm…” His closest friends and family called him Seb, but he wasn’t sure if it sounded right coming from Frank’s mouth. “I don’t-“

“Seb, my friend Alex is on the phone, can I show your face to him? He wants to see who I’m sharing a room with.” Frank chuckled, as he lowered his phone down to his chest.

“Uhm… okay.” Seb didn’t want Frank to think he was some brat who didn’t want to be seen on camera, and he didn’t want him to think he was camera shy either.

“Look! This is the guy I was telling you about, the one from Romania?” Frank tapped the screen, switching the camera to capture Seb, who’s shirt was still sticking to his kinda wet body. The cloth molded into his abs, which made them visible to Frank and now Alex. Seb stood there awkwardly, ran his fingers through his hair and waved, with an almost painful-looking smile.

Alex had the same awkward face, neither of them knew what to do or say. He had this bleach blonde hair, with blue-grayish eyes. He looked much older than Frank, but not by too much. 

“Hey.” He lifted a hand to the screen, before Frank turned the camera back to him.

“I’m stuck with him for the rest of the school year!” Frank groaned in a joking manner.

Seb scrunched his nose, before turning away towards his side of the room.

Behind him, he could still hear them talking.

“Dude, he’s so cute!” It was Alex’s voice.

“Shut up I know!” Frank said with a forced whisper, but Seb could still manage to hear. “And he’s got the coolest accent ever!” He couldn’t help but give a big, wide smile, his eyes closing and cheeks becoming squeezable. He hid his face, facing the wall and trying to calm himself down. Could it be? Could his roommate also have a crush on him? Frank didn’t look too bad himself, Seb thought. He allowed himself another smile, before deciding to organize the stuff in his bags.

************

There was a few days before his classes actually started, so Sebastian decided he would explore the city and get familiar. After getting directions from that over enthusiastic professor, he walked to the nearest subway station, about five blocks, and hopped on a train towards the city.

After a few missed stops, asking a bunch of people where to get off and some very awkward encounters with people who couldn’t understand him, he was finally able to make it to the place where everyone wanted to see in New York City. Times Square, of course.

He really didn’t know what he was expecting. Seb always saw on TV, everybody gathering at Times Square, cheering and celebrating, those well-known yellow taxis, officers with NYPD on the back of their coats, costumers waving at people passing by. He talked about visiting right after he found out he was accepted to the school.

“Nu pot să aștept să văd clădirile și luminile!” Seb shouted with a voice full of hope, his arms wide open as his mom lay on the couch in their living room.

“tu le vei vedea , nu vă faceți griji ! Dar niciodată nu va fi la fel de frumos ca România!” she laughed.

“oh mama , ea va fi frumos! Va fi!”

Now that he was actually there, he felt completely different than what he expected. The new year’s ball was super tiny, the costumers took their costume heads off every now and then, completely destroying the character. He watched as an Elmo took a seat by some red chairs, and started texting on his phone. Wait, another Elmo walked by, and another- Times Square was the only place you could see six Elmos walk by in a matter of five minutes. This was bothering Seb too much…so he decided to look at something else. The billboards were actually very nice to look at, with flashing colors and animations that were very artistic at times. He stood right there, on the sidewalk while hundreds of people rushed by him while he leaned his head back to see all the colors. His mouth hung open as he looked around at the tall buildings and extreme amount of technology covering, well, everything. 

Behind him, he recognized the row of candy shaped lights, all different colors. They were M&M’s! He loved those chocolates. He always got them as a reward for being good. 

He didn’t particularly enjoy the amount of people that were stuffed into the store, but he made his way to the chocolate bars (couldn’t resist not buying one of those), then the hershey kisses (also couldn’t resist), and of course he snatched a few bags of M&M’s before paying and quickly shuffling his way out of the crowd fighting to get in. Once he was in the clear, he stuffed the entire bag into his backpack and ran off to the next thing that caught his attention. He was pretty much like a little kid at his first carnival.

Seb probably got back to the school grounds near midnight. But he was happy. Less scared. Well, of the city. Not of school. But that was for later to worry about. Right now, he had a bag full of candy, an I <3 New York” shirt (he’s Romanian okay? Give him a break ;P) and a bunch of new clothes, so he wouldn’t have a 4 day cycle of shirts, and new jeans and pants to wear. It might’ve went over his budget for clothing, but it was well worth it to keep from doing laundry as long as possible. Did Seb even know how to do laundry? He would figure it out when the time came.

It was a few days later, classes had already begun when Seb met his second American friend. He wasn't exactly sure if Frank could be considered a friend yet. That morning, he dragged himself in and out of the shower and ended up running to his first class because of misdirections.

Luckily, it was U.S. History, which meant Frank would be there too. And even luckier, Frank arrived later than him. Seb kinda figured, since Frank was still sleeping when he got out of the shower. 

Seb took a seat in the back, mostly so he could see everyone in the room and he wouldn’t have to worry about anybody behind him. He just felt safer that way. Moments later, Frank arrived and sat in the seat next to him.

“Hey.” he mumbled to Seb, who was lining his pencils along the edge of the desk.

“Hi.” Seb grinned, happy that there was a familiar face in an unfamiliar room. 

“I heard this class is a breeze. Well, maybe harder for you ‘cuz ya know…”

“I’ll just study harder then!”

Frank laughed as if Seb told a joke, but he really wasn’t joking. “Did you get the syllabus?”

“Uhm…”

Frank reached over and grabbed the gray sheet of paper on Seb’s desk and scanned it over while Seb watched with concern. 

“Do you, know, what this is?” Frank asked, noticing Seb’s face..

“Noo…” Seb pressed his lips together and shook his head, his eyes big and eyebrows pulled down.

“It’s just all the ins- uhm, teacher’s, information, class times, homework and list of things we’re learning in class.” Frank leaned over to walk him through the topics. “See…”

Seb listened carefully, trying to absorb as much English as he could. He got most of it. Since they were in the 3rd installment of the class, they were starting during the Industrial Revolution of the late 1800’s, and working their way up to the Cold War.

The first class was pretty boring, the professor wanted to take the first class to introduce everything, and said they would start next class.

At lunchtime, Seb decided to head to the commons and pick up a sandwich. He walked past all the other students, who were at tables, laughing and joking around. He looked at a group of guys through the corner of his eye, seeing that they were making cubes from their bread and throwing them at each other. If Seb ever wasted food like that his mom would’ve kicked him out of the house.

“What’re you looking at?” One of the guys noticed Seb and got up out of his seat.

Seb jumped back, not realizing that he had stopped walking completely to stare at them. “Uh… I’m sorry”

“Wait, you’re that Russian kid! Right?” the guy laughed tauntingly.

“Roman-“

“Is it fun being a communist? You commies and your vodka.” The other guys chuckled behind him. Seb looked at them and knew they were a bit scared too. He froze in his spot, not knowing what to do. He didn’t think it was safe to even run, because the guy would’ve easily caught up to him.

“Look I didn’t mean to stare…”

“Sure you did. Because you wish you were cool, like us? I’ll tell you what. You give us some of your booze- you brought vodka right? You give it to us and we’ll let you go… this time.”

“I don’t hav-“

The guy threw his head back in laughter. “I guess you’ll have to pay some other way then.” He walked over right to Seb, towering above him. This was it. Seb lasted what, four days in the states? He was either going to be sent back for getting in a fight, or he was gonna get killed.

But as soon as the guy grabbed Seb by his shirt, he felt someone behind him, pulling him back. 

“Pick on someone your own size.” A tall, muscular guy, with beautiful chocolate hair stood in between the bully and Seb, who was shaking out of fear and shock. The two guys matched in height, but the mean one looked slightly stronger.

“Gladly.” The mean guy gave an evil skull-like grin. Seb looked around, and not one pair of eyes weren’t glued on him and the two other guys. Phones were out, and people were whispering. The mean guy lifted a fist, but no punches were thrown.

“Hugo, stop. It’s not worth it.” the guys behind him finally stood up, grabbing the bully’s shoulders and lowering his fist.

“Just a coupl’a punches’ll show ’em.”

“Stop. Remember what happened last time you got into a fight?” A really short student slid in front of Hugo. He was probably half his size, both vertically and horizontally.

The guy sighed, and allowed his friends to pull him back.

“This isn’t over!” He shouted as he walked out of the cafeteria. Phones lowered, and people started to turn back to their groups.

The nice beautiful hair-ed student turned around to face Seb, who was still shaking a bit.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice as smooth as silk and as calming as listening to waves crashing on the beach.

“Uhhhhh…” Seb frantically looked around and then put his head down to stare at the floor.

“Hey.” Seb felt the other guy put his hands on his shoulders before jumping back. “Whoa, I’m sorry.”

Seb looked up with guilty, ashamed eyes. “No, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”  
“It’s okay.” He looked like he wanted rub the side of Seb’s arm, but he forced his arm to stay still.

“I-“ Seb had his arms wrapped around his chest and was looking down, embarrassed to look into the other man’s eyes. “Thank you.” he said quietly.

“Don’t thank me,” His voice rang in Seb’s ears so nicely. “I’m just doing my job as a nice human being. I hate bullies.”

Seb gave a slight smile. 

“Hey, look. You were probably in here to get some food, right?” He hunched over to try and see Seb’s face, which was still pointed at the ground. Seb nodded silently. “Well, if you’re okay with it, why don’t you come with me to this awesome place I know?”

Seb moved his lips around, thinking if he should go with this guy he’s never met before. But then again, he thought about eating in the place he just got ridiculed in and shuddered. Awesome place he knows, it is.

“That would be okay.” Seb kept his quiet voice, but finally looked up, into the other guy’s eyes.

“Hi…” The guy leaned his head forward, smiling at Seb. “Nice to see you have a face.”

Seb smiled shy-fully, fighting his will to look down again.

“I’m… Chris.”

“I’m Sebastian.”

“Has anyone ever told you how pretty your accent is?”

Seb rolled his eyes. “Yes, everyone that I have talked to in America.”

“Hey! Keep that attitude and I won’t pay for your lunch anymore!”

Seb’s eyes turned wide. “Oh, no! I can pay for my o-“

“No, no, no! It’s my treat. Please.”

Seb couldn’t say no to those beautiful blue eyes, and followed Chris silently out the door.

 

 

 

Some pics :) :

 

sleeping seb ^o^ zzz

 

and Seb's OOTD, HOW RUDE HIS SHIRT IS SEE THROUGH

but lucky this is how Chris first sees him ;)

 

 

and this is what Chris looked like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ROMANIAN TRANSLATION:
> 
> "I can't wait to see the buildings and the lights!"
> 
> "You'll see them, don't worry! But it'll never be as beautiful as Romania!"
> 
> "Oh mom! It will be nice! It will be!"
> 
>  
> 
> (not too crucial to the story but nice to know)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'll try to get the next as soon as possible!!  
> I'm usually terrible with finishing these fics, so it'd be nice to have some motivation! *wink* *wink*  
> If you haven't noticed, I'm kinda merging the characters in the story with the characters they play in the movie, I hope that's alright!
> 
> Thanks for reading everyone!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *****(slight mention of alcohol and drunk-ness at the end)
> 
> this picks up right where the last chapter left off :)

“So, how do you like America so far?” Chris asked as they shuffled along the sidewalk. 

Seb looked at him, wondering if he really just asked that after what just happened.

“Sorry that’s probably not a good question right now…” Chris pressed his lips together, shutting himself up.

Seb silently agreed, but decided to answer the question anyways. To make Chris happy.

“No, it’s okay. I actually really like America.” Seb paused. “So far. I only went to New York City yesterday, I haven’t been anywhere else.”

Chris rolled his head back and smiled toward the sky. “Lemme guess. Times Square?”

Seb’s eyes widened in surprise. “How-“

“Come on, everyone goes to Times Square. That’s not the real New York City though. That place is practically made for tourists nowadays.”

Seb gave a disappointed look, before Chris started speaking again.

“Hey, if you let me, I’ll show you around my favorite spots tomorrow! I mean, if you want…”

“Yes! That would be so amazing!” Seb looked away for a moment, before preposing the idea, “…but can we go to Central Park? I heard it’s really beautiful there.”

“Sure! I mean, I don’t know about the beautiful thing, but it is pretty cool. And it’s huge! What did you want to do there?”

Seb blushed, repeating his request over and over in his head but was too embarrassed to ask.  
“Well, uhm, my mom, and I- we- always went to the park… and we always uh, you know did a um, picnic?”

“Now that may be the most stereotypical thing I’ve ever heard!”

Seb knew it was stupid, he just really liked having picnics in the park. No matter how stereotypical it was. “Oh, okay-“

“I’m sorry, I was kidding! Of course we can! It sounds fun! I haven’t gone on a picnic since I was a kid! Mostly because the sweaty runners that always step across the blanket, and then those people who do yoga randomly next to you in the middle of the day? And those stupid pigeons…” 

Chris stopped walking, and turned towards a mini restaurant, with the letters, “The Hydra” on a green umbrella type thing over the door Seb never knew the name of. It seemed pretty casual, with a bakery in the front and an eating area behind that. 

“Do you hate living here?” 

“What?” 

“I mean, you complain a lot about the city.”

“No, well I mean, I love this place, but it has its downsides. I used to live with my parents on a military base in Boston, cus’ my dad was in the army for as long as I could remember… he’s a dentist now, but… yea. It was way different than living in Manhattan.”

“Oh that’s cool…how was it different?” Seb asked over his shoulder, walking into the restaurant as Chris held the door open.

“Well… there’s a lot of rules, A LOT of them. You had to be good all the time or you could’ve gotten your entire family in trouble. And sometimes there was noise that went on all day, explosions, yelling, pretty much just like the city.” he joked. ‘I dunno… we never got bored though, there was always something to do, when you weren’t being told when to get up and where to walk and stuff.”

“That seems… uhm.. interesting?”

“Yea, it was.” He stopped talking, eyes trailing away, as if he remembered something, but wasn’t willing to share.

By then, they had already taken their seats at a booth and were looking through the menu.

“Do you trust me?” Chris slammed his menu closed on the table.

“Huh?” Seb looked up.

“Do you trust me? With food?”

“Uh, I’m guessing I’m going to have to? I can’t read the menu well anyways.” Seb closed his menu as well, and fixed his hair, and adjusted his posture.

“Don’t worry, you’ll love this dish.”

The waiter came, and Chris ordered something called spaghetti Bolognese, which, Seb had heard of, but never tried before. Seb stared at Chris with an innocent smile, and looked into his eyes, the ones he couldn’t say no to. Chris stared back for a moment, before breaking into laughter.

“Omygod.” Chris choked through his laugh, looking down at his lap. “I just realized how bad this looks. I feel like I just tricked you into going on a date.”

“What? A date?”

“I promise that’s not how this was supposed to- the restaurant, spaghetti, if I were you I’d be thinking we’re basically in the Lady and the Tramp. Oh AND, we have a picnic tomorrow. Wow.” 

Seb watched that movie when he was a kid, and it was one of his favorite Disney movies, right after The Little Mermaid. 

“No, it’s fine! I wasn’t thinking that at all! I mean…” Seb looked at Chris, giving him a comforting smile. He could tell Chris was being self-conscious, and that he was nervous, and Seb knew what that felt like. 

“I really didn’t mean to, I just wanted to buy you lunch, being ‘the new kid’ and all, I thought I’d be your… friend?” Chris quieted down as he said the last part.

“No! I’m really thankful for all this, for…you. And don’t worry! I go out with friends all the time like this. Just… think of it as showing me the town.” 

Immediately, Chris sank back into the booth, relieved. Seb felt happy, as he loved making people feel better. 

“Okay. Well, I guess I’ll be your tour guide then! And this is my favorite restaurant, so you better like it.” Chris teased, falling back into his dorky, confident self.

The rest of the night went perfectly, Seb decided that spaghetti bolognese was his favorite food, and how has he survived his whole life without trying it? He found out that Chris has his own apartment off campus, was studying animation, and was involved in the school theater club. 

“Wait, so can you make cartoons?” Seb, even though having little artistic background was instantly interested in Chris’s artwork.

“Well, it’s not exactly like that… But I could if I wanted to!”

“How does it work?”

“Well, to make it simple, you have to draw a lot of still images, and then string them together in a sequence, so when you play the images like a video, it moves, like a cartoon show.”

“Wait isn’t that so tiring? Like how do people make hour-long animated movies?”

“I’m pretty sure they hire more than one person to work on making all the frames.’

“Have you ever made an animation?”

“Well I guess I have made a few, for school projects, but not really for fun. I just don’t have any time, with work, and clubs and all.”

“You said you do theater?” Seb asked as Chris took a huge bite of spaghetti and nodded. Chris chewed quickly, trying to make room in his mouth to answer Seb’s question.

“I, actually, always wanted to try theater club.” Seb mentioned, to fill up the awkward silence as he waited for Chris to swallow his food.

“Really?” Chris managed to get out before swallowing the last of the noodles. “You’re so quiet though, don’t seem like the dramatic type.”

“I mean, I’ve always been interested, I just never really had the confidence to really get to know how it works. Except this one time when I was ten or something, I was in a movie-but only for few seconds. I played a homeless kid.”

“Really? That’s so cool! The movie part, not the homeless part. Sebastian, you would love theater club. It’s a lot of fun. Want me to introduce you?” Chris leaned in, folding his arms on the table, unintentionally flexing his biceps. Seb shifted under the table.

“Oh, I don’t know…” Seb sunk back into the seat, sulking and not realizing Chris would actually take it that far. “I mean, I can’t even speak that good English, and no one can ever hear me-”

“Come on Sebastian, it’ll be okay! I was really scared at first, and it took me two years to gather the courage to join. And I could help you with your English, even though it sounds pretty much perfect to me.”

“You? Scared? And, thank you, I think.”

“Yeah, I mean, it may not look like it but I was a pretty shy kid growing up, and ever since-“ Chris paused. Then looked up at Seb, who had his instantly switched to concerned eyes locked on to Chris’s. “Ah, never mind. You don’t want to hear that story. But anyways, I decided not to let fear make my decisions, and joining theater club was the best decision I’ve ever made.”

“Really?”

“Yep. And of course, meeting you! Or, saving, you.”

Seb blushed. “You’re, not going ever going to let this go, are you.”

“Probably not. So… does that mean we’re… friends now?”

“I guess so.” Seb smiled, making his cheeks so so squeezable. Chris grabbed his hands under the table to keep him self from grabbing Seb’s cheeks and never letting go.

 

The rest of the day went peacefully, even though he got quite a few stares from the other students who probably saw what happened in the cafeteria. Or news travels fast. Seb went to his classes, and went back to his dorm room for dinner where Frank treated him to some Chinese takeout. 

“I heard about what happened today,” Frank mentioned as he sipped his can of beer.

“Oh, that… uhm…”

“Don’t worry about it. Hugo has always been a huge jerk. Basically, you have be a really, really, weird kid if he hasn’t bothered you before.”

“Did he ever bother you?”

“Uh, yea. Sophomore year, I bumped into him after our English class, and knocked his phone out of his hand and right onto the floor. You could only imagine how pissed he was.” Frank chuckled at the memory. 

“What did he do?”

“What he does to everyone? He called me out to fight, which was a bad idea on his part. Cus’ I beat the shit out of him.”

“Wait really?” Seb looked surprised, because from what he could remember, Hugo looked way taller and more muscular than Frank. 

“I mean, he was pretty skinny back then. But yea, beat the shit out of him, and his friends had to drag him away.”

Seb smiled at the knowledge that someone had embarrassed Hugo, and that he was safe with Frank. 

“Who even is he?” Seb asked, feeling a little better knowing he wasn’t the only victim of Hugo’s bullying.

“Even I don’t know. He doesn’t share much. I only know he’s a foreign kid like you. Except he moved here permanently, and he’s been a pain in the ass ever since his first day here. So forget him.” Frank held up his beer and held it towards Seb.

Seb picked up his water and clinked it against the can.

“Alright, Seb. I’m heading out to a party at one of the other buildings, wanna come?”

“No, that’s okay. I’m tired.”

“Are you sure? I heard that this guy throws the best parties ever!” Frank ended his sentence almost yelling.

“No, I just, want to sleep. Have fun!” Seb finished up the last of his dinner while waving at Frank with his free hand.

“Alright. See ya later.” Frank grabbed his jacket and keys in one movement and left the room leaving Seb alone.

It was the best night’s sleep Seb ever had since he arrived in New York. Replaying his lunch with Chris over and over again in his mind. He really thought they could be best friends, he felt that connection, a bond, with Chris. Seb couldn’t wait to see him tomorrow on their picnic.

It was the best night’s sleep, until a series of loud fists against the door woke Seb up. Still recovering from the mini-heart attack Seb thought he just had, he trudged over to the door, and looked through the peep-hole. There was Frank, drunk as hell and wobbling from side to side.

“Seb! Open up! I… forgo… -keys!”

Seb opened the door slowly, but got pushed back when Frank fell in from the hallway and collapsed on the dorm room floor. 

“Frank are you okay?”

“Yea, yea, I’m fine.” Frank brushed Seb off, and managed somehow to stand up by himself without falling again. Without warning, Frank grabbed Seb by the shoulders tightly which made Seb jump back, well, his insides jumped back because he couldn’t move out of Frank’s grasp. 

“Uhm… Frank?” Seb tried to step back, as Frank leaned forward towards him, closing his eyes.

Seb panicked, turning his head away and yelling Frank’s name over and over. Until the hands on his shoulders lifted away, and Frank fell to the floor, asleep. 

Seb didn’t have enough strength to carry or even pull Frank over to his bed, so he made Frank comfortable on the floor where he fell. He lifted his head to put a pillow between Frank and the rough carpet floor, and covered Frank with his blanket before heading back to his own bed, shaken up and worried. 

But not long after, Seb had distracted himself with memories of Chris, and fell sound asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some links I used as sources,  
> did you know urban dictionary's def of Spaghetti Bolognaise is the dish of love???  
> So when seb says deep in spaghetti bolognaise.... AHHHHH
> 
> http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/1007619/what-every-military-family-should-know-about-living-on-base  
> http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Spaghetti%20bolognaise


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seb gets into some more trouble, but it ends in a pretty good thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: SEXUAL HARASSMENT, SELF-INJURY (mention of blood) INTENSE LANGUAGE
> 
> If you’re not comfortable reading any of the topics above, this chapter can be skipped and I'll probably put a summary at the beginning of the next chapter :).

It was Tuesday, when Seb got out of bed and finally decided to video chat with his mom for the first time. I mean, of course they had talked over the phone for multiple hours, but Seb never really gathered the courage to see his mom’s face, knowing that he was thousands of miles away from wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tightly. He just knew he would get homesick all over again, and he didn’t want to go down that path again. But today, a Tuesday, was the day, he decided. 

Seeing that Frank was still in bed, as he always was until noon on days he didn’t have morning classes, Seb tiptoed his way to the shower and carefully made sure he didn’t turn on the loud vent in the bathroom. He made sure he was wearing his nicest shirt before propping his computer up on his nightstand and calling his mom. Since it was morning in New York, it should’ve been afternoon in Romania, meaning his mother was free. 

It took a few rings before his mom’s face popped up on the screen, a little blurry but it was okay. 

“Mama!! Ce mai faci!?” Seb asked, wondering how she was. 

“Sunt bine! E singur fără tine aici, Sebastian.” She told him, mentioning how lonely she felt without Seb at home. 

“Pot veni întotdeauna acasă, știi.” Seb mentioned offering to come home. 

“Nici asta e în regulă. Este destul de supărătoare obtinerea câinele vecinului să stea departe de grădină, nu au nevoie de un alt prapadit pentru a avea grijă de!” His mom laughed, comparing Seb’s obedience levels to the neighbor’s dog. 

They talked for a while, laughing and catching up on life, making Seb regret not having called her sooner. 

About an hour later, they decided to put their conversation on hold until next week, and ended the call. Luckily for Seb, he shut his computer off right when Frank woke up. 

“Yo morning Seb!”

“Good morning.” Seb gave a polite smile. The more time Seb spent with Frank, the more he realized how much of an opposite he was compared to himself. More importantly, he realized how annoying Frank was. “Hey Seb can you pass me that can of Coke?”

Seb turned around and spotted the soda can on the kitchen counter, an equal distance away from him as it was for Frank. But he didn’t want to argue. He was also planning on heading to the Mess Hall anyways for breakfast, since there was practically no food in their dorm. 

“It’s nine in the morning, you want to drink soda?” Seb trudged over to the kitchen, not because he was tired, but because he was annoyed Seb had become a personal servant to Frank in the time they’ve been roommates. 

“Well no one’s gonna stop me, so why not?” Frank joked. “Okay, okay. I’ll make sure I brush my teeth afterwards, how about that?” He mocked Seb’s concern. 

Seb discreetly rolled his eyes, grabbed his hoodie jacket and headed out the door. 

After breakfast, Seb decided to go back to his dorm and work on some boring homework. Luckily for him, Frank was gone. He knew that he had about 4 hours ahead of him, and about 4 hours until his picnic with Chris. Perfect.

He arrived at Central Park at 2:30, completing his homework earlier than expected, but having some trouble navigating his way through the maze called New York City. He had his backpack one on shoulder, and another bag for the gym after class.

As time passed ,the butterflies in his stomach began fluttering more and more violently, to the point where he had to find a bench to sit down. It was only a picnic, nothing to be so anxious about, he told himself. Seb was just about to get out his phone to hopefully give him a distraction when he heard a familiar voice shouting his name. He searched through the bike-riders, walkers, sunbathers and yoga enthusiasts for a face he could recognize.

“Hey!” Seb felt a hand grab his shoulder as he spun around to see who it was. 

“Chris! I was just about to call!” Seb looked into those hypnotic blue eyes that seemed to shine brighter under the 3’o clock sun. He slid his phone into the back pocket of his dark skinny jeans with gold studs (AKA his favorite pair) and followed Chris as he was led towards a less crowded, grassy area covered in a picnic blanket and some tasty looking food. 

“Surprise!” Chris held his arms out, pointing to the picnic setup and watching Seb for a reaction. And a reaction was what he got.

“Wow!!! This is amazing!! Thank you.” Seb went in for the hug, and Chris gladly accepted. Seb’s head lay perfectly against the curves of Chris’s shoulders, and Chris’s arms were just long enough to wrap around Seb’s waist. The hug seemed to go on for much longer than either of them expected, but neither seemed to be bothered by the extra time in each other’s arms. 

“So,” Chris smiled, after they stepped back from the hug. “Wanna sit?”

“Sure!” Seb said playfully, almost skipping over to the setup and taking a seat right behind the plate of cookies. Chocolate chip cookies. Seb’s favorite. Well, that and M&M’s.

Chris took a seat right across from Seb. 

“So, how’s your day been?” Chris asked as he handed Seb a plate.

“Fine. You?” Seb took the flimsy paper plate and glanced quickly at the cookies before looking up at Chris.

“Honestly, terrible. But I don’t wanna bore you with all my crap.”

“No, it’s okay! Tell me. Maybe it will make you feel better.” Seb blinked in such an adorable fashion it would’ve made puppies look like monsters. 

“It’s just that one of the art professors I’m taking classes from completely trashed my animation sketches and I’ve been working on them for such a long time, it’s just so frustrating and sometimes I wish I could just drop out of school and do my own shit instead of having to follow around some old guy that has no idea what the hell he’s doing and-” Chris looked up at Seb fully expecting him to be focused on his food instead of his ranting but there he was, his eyes still open wide and his head tilted slightly to the right suggesting he was listening to every word Chris was saying. “-I’m just… really, tired.”

“I’m sorry.” Seb squeaked. Chris could tell Seb didn’t understand everything he said, but was grateful that he made an effort and didn’t just brush off Chris’s problems like his other friends did.

“Thanks.”

“Do you have your sketches with you?” Seb asked as he glanced quickly at the bag Chris had over in his corner of the picnic blanket.

“No, you don’t want to see them, they’re terrible.”

“If you thought they were terrible, why would you work on them for such a long time like you said?”

Chris stuttered, trying to come up with an answer, but finally gave in. Reluctantly, he reached inside his bag and pulled out some slightly crumbled pages and passed them to Seb.

Seb only took a few seconds to look at the sketches before exclaiming how great they were and how dumb that teacher must’ve been to think these were terrible, and Chris didn’t even let Seb finish before beginning to explain why his teacher was right.

“Look at his face!” Chris pointed to one of the characters. “It’s so lifeless.”

“Like this?” Seb mimicked the face Chris drew on the page, his eyes and mouth half open as if he just woke up, laughing afterwards and dodging Chris’s hand trying to slap him on the shoulder. “You’re right. They are terrible.” Seb thrust the pages towards Chris who now had a shocked face.

“You really think so?”

“No! I’m just joking! They’re amazing! Do... what you said earlier… your own shit. That teacher has no right to tell you how good or bad your art is.”

“You’re right. He’s so old, his vision is probably shot anyways. You should’ve seen his sketches, now that’s what you call terrible.” Chris smiled, looking up from his characters to see Seb smiling back. 

After a few hours with Chris, Seb felt like he could’ve sat on that picnic blanket forever, listening to Chris talk about his art, but when he checked his phone and realized there was only 10 minutes until his first astronomy class, he sprung up in panic, said bye, grabbed his bag and sprinted out of the park.

There, he recognized some of the other students from other classes, but none of which he felt comfortable to approach or sit near. He chose a seat in the front this time, displaying his eagerness to learn about his favorite subject. It was only then when he realized his gym bag was gone, and that he left it with Chris at the park. Shit. I guess there was no working out that night.

A few moments after the class started, the excitement in his face disappeared when the professor starting shooting out phrases like “the Chandrasekhar Limit” and “big-bang nucleosynthesis” sparking a thought of whether Seb could really handle such an intense class. But the excitement soon returned when he heard that they’d be starting with a unit of Greek Astronomy before getting into the really complicated stuff.

The brand new pens scratched on lined paper as Seb copied down everything that he could, even though he didn’t understand some of the words, so he could translate them into Romanian later. And whenever students would ask questions, he lifted his pen over to the side, and began doodling planets and stars, drawing smiley faces on some of them, and leaving other faceless. Suddenly, through the corner of his eye he saw his phone light up from inside his half open backpack. He discreetly peeked over while another student asked how much percentage each test counted for, to see that it was a- no- a LOT of texts from Frank.

Hey babe wehre ae u ?

Sebbby i kno u likewme i saw you staringat me ysterdau !!!!!!?!!!!!!

COme on seb le ts fuck  
im sorry that ws too forawd

I rlly like utho

Seb u like me rite 

Sebbu

sebby*&&(

Ur so hot

Seb blushed in his seat, from both embarrassment and anger. Why did he even give Frank his phone number in the first place? He just sent him drunk texts all the time from parties and was never home and left all the chores to Seb and UGHH he made Seb so annoyed. At least he could get home early instead of going to the gym to confront him. For the rest of class he tried to pay attention but he kept drifting away in thought thinking about how he was going to yell at Frank once he got home.

Frank was at the dorm, passed out on the couch so at least he wasn’t still out drinking. But unfortunately, the confrontation Seb had been practicing over and over in his head on the way back from class went wrong. Horribly wrong. 

He closed the dorm room door as slowly as possible to not make any noise. Then Seb decided not to lock the door, because the metal on metal would be too loud. He tiptoed past the couch to get to his bed, where his shower stuff was. By accident, as he was picking up his towel, his bottle of soap fell out of his grasp, hitting the floor and spilling open onto the carpet.

“Shit!” he hissed, trying to stay quiet, but his voice wasn’t quiet enough.

“Ughhh….” Frank lifted his head, clearly still intoxicated. “Seb… is...sthat you?” 

“Hey, Frank…” he said with the most gentle voice possible. Seb thought that maybe his voice would lead Frank back into his sleep. 

Opposite to what Seb wanted, Frank clumsily got up off the couch, knocking beer cans over in the process but finally turning to face halfway between the door and the bunks where Seb was standing, like a deer in the headlights. 

“Frank please, lie back down.”

“I’m f-fine.”

“Come on, you are stumbling all over the place.” Seb walked over to grab onto Frank’s shoulder to lead him back to his bunk. 

“Seb I-I have to tell you some-phhthing…”

“I know Frank. I got your texts.”

“Wait you did? ….W-what did I say again..?”

Seb groaned. “Nothing.” 

“O-KAY well Seb! I have to tell you m-my feelings.”

“No Frank that can wait until tomorrow until you're not drunk anymore.”

“I l-love youu…Seb!”

“Frank I-”

“Didn’t y-you hear me? From the moma-ment I saw you…”

Frank collapsed into Seb’s arms, and being almost half his size, fell over onto the scratchy carpet. 

“Frank- get- off-” Seb pushed against Frank’s chest, trying to squirm out from under his body. 

“Come ‘ere Sebby-” Frank leaned in, trying to land his lips on Seb’s while the smaller of the two wiggled around with his eyes tightly shut. 

“FRANK!” Seb yelled, too weak to move himself under a body almost twice his size. 

“Itss o-kay com’ere.” Frank’s hand rose up to grab Seb by his cheeks, attempting to keep his face still. 

“FRANK. GET. OFF!”

As Frank used his other free hand to grab onto Seb’s upper thigh in attempt to keep him from moving too much, Seb leaned in and with as much strength as he had, bit onto Frank’s ear. 

“ARGH!” Frank pulled back onto his knees, while Seb immediately got up and planned to run for the closest room near him, the bathroom. 

But before Seb could make it to his feet, he felt a rough hand grab onto his ankle, pulling him back down. 

“Stop it!!” Seb screamed, squirming and trying to grab onto whatever his hands could reach. 

“Shut up.” Frank grumbled, grabbing and holding both of Seb’s arms down with one hand while attempting to cover his mouth with the other. 

“MFp hhhh” Seb screamed only to be shut up by Frank’s sharp nails that dug into his arms as he felt his jeans being pulled down. 

But as Frank tried to get Seb’s pants over his knees, he released Seb’s arms, allowing the poor thing to attack. 

Seb kicked his way out of under Frank’s legs, landing a final kick right on his attacker’s nose. While Frank was launched back a few feet as a result, Seb ran for the bathroom. 

Luckily for Seb, Frank was so drunk he didn’t see him escape. 

“SE-B Y- YOU- FUCK! WHERE ARE YOU!”

From inside the dark bathroom, Seb could barely breathe from how much he was sobbing. Both scared out of his mind and angry as hell, Seb just wanted to go home. No. Not even leaving was enough. He felt such intense emotions he just wanted to disappear. And the pain in his chest would stop. And Frank would be gone. And his stupid headache that kept getting worse as he sobbed into his lap. 

Seb felt the heavy footsteps of the drunk getting closer to the bathroom door and scurried back towards the wall to increase distance between him and his harasser as much as possible. But in doing so, Seb felt something sharp cut into his right hand, making him almost yell out. Luckily, the footsteps outside the bathroom became lighter and further away. 

“Argh…” Seb clenched his hand, slippery and wet from the blood. He needed to see the damage done to his hand, it was hurting so much. He blindly reached up and forwards into the darkness, feeling for a the light switch. 

“RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR” wrong switch. The fan blasted on, both startling Seb out of his mind and telling Frank where Seb was hiding. 

“SEBB!!” Frank’s heavy footsteps pounded on the floor, getting closer and closer. 

Seb immediately backed away from the door, all the way to the opposite side of the bathroom. He saw the razor on the floor, now covered in fresh romanian blood. 

The pounding on the door got louder and louder each time, and Seb was getting more and more afraid. 

Right when Seb thought his life was over and he would be stuck in that disgusting college bathroom for the rest of his life (which wouldn’t be much longer if Frank made it through that door), he heard another door slam open between the heavy pounding on the door right in front of him. 

“WHO THE FUCK ARE-” Frank yelled, his voice getting further away from Seb. Instead of finishing his sentence, it was finished for him with a loud grunt and a thud on the floor. 

Seb listened in confusion as he heard various yelling, punching and crashing before one final thud that left everything silent. Well, except for the faint whispering of the other students now gathered outside his room and the approaching sirens of a campus security car. 

“Seb *huff* seb! *huff* Are you *huff* okay?” The voice came towards the bathroom door, but Seb didn’t run towards it. He was still in shock, not realizing it was all over. Frank was unconscious on the blue carpet and a soothing voice was trying to coax him out of a tiny locked room. 

For a minute or two, Seb didn’t recognize the voice calling to him, he still wanted to get away from everybody, he still wanted to disappear. 

“It’s… it’s Chris.” Seb heard the soft push of a heavy hand on the door, and it finally processed through his brain that he was safe. 

“Chris?” Seb managed to croak, crawling across the tile floor and reaching for the lock.

“It’s me. It’s okay, you’re safe.”

Seb placed his hand on the door, where he felt Chris’s hand was. He could even swear he felt a radiating warmth coming from the outside. He finally unlocked the door, and immediately ran into Chris’s arms, wrapping himself in the familiar warmth. 

The other students applauded softly, some still taking pictures and videos, before slowly dispersing. The security guards grabbed Frank, still drunk and uncoordinated stumbling as they dragged him out of the room. Other officers remained, watching in silence before finally asking Seb to come with them. 

“Noooo!!” Seb screamed as one of the officers placed his hand around his arm to pull him away from Chris. Seb’s arms wrapped tighter around his savior, making sure no one could separate them. 

“Seb…” Chris awkwardly chuckled, seeing the officers’ concerned look at both him and Seb. “It’s okay… you can go with them. They’re not going to hurt you.”

Seb shook his head against Chris’s shirt, smearing the tears across his chest. 

“Seb? Will you go with them if I come with you?”

Seb remained silent, before subtly nodding his head. He released Chris from his grasp, and followed the officers exiting the room with Chris right behind him. 

They all went into a small yellow-lit room and stayed in there for hours, answering questions and working out what would happen to Frank and Seb’s future at the school. When one of the officers offered to call his mother, Seb jumped up, shaking his head “no” violently. 

They went over everything from placing him in therapy, to legal details that would affect the school’s public image. 

“Where am I going to stay now?” Seb squeaked. 

“Well your options are to stay in the same room, and another student will be assigned there, or to start looking for an off-campus location, which we will help you do. Or you could ask any of the other students if they would be willing to switch rooms with you.”

Seb automatically knew he didn’t want to stay in that filthy disgusting room anymore, but he also knew he didn’t have money to afford an off-campus apartment. And he was pretty sure no one wanted to stay in his room for the same reason he didn’t. 

“But I don’t have any mo-”

“What if he stays with me?” Chris blurted out from the back of the room. 

“Chris I couldn't-”

“It’s okay with us, if you just fill out some forms.”

“Come on Seb it’s fine, stay with me.”

“I can’t afford rent and it’d be too much trouble!”

“We’ll work that out later. Right now you need a place to stay, and I couldn’t be happier if you moved into my apartment!”

“Really, Chris are you sure…”

“Yep. Officer...uhm Robert, it’s settled he’s staying with me, he’ll fill out any and all of the forms he needs to.”

Officer Robert eyed Seb, who sighed and nodded back. 

“What do I need to fill out.” 

Moments later, Seb was walking out as Chris’s new roommate. 

“Don’t worry about money. I’ve got plenty. Much more than I need. And If you really want to pitch in, we’ll find you a job!”

“Thank you, Chris.”

Silence. 

“Uhm, Chris?”

“Yea?” He answered as they walked along the campus sidewalk in the middle of the night. 

“Why did you come to my room?”

“Uhm…” Even in the dimly lit night, Seb could tell Chris’s face was red. “Well I wanted to return your gym bag. You left it at the park.”

“Ohhhhh. Thanks.” 

“Yep.”

“But couldn't you have returned it to me tomorrow morning?”

“Yea- but I figured if you wanted to workout in the morning or whatever-”

“But I told you in the park I work out at night.”

“You know what Seb? Just- be glad I was there.”

“I am. Thank you.”

“Yep.” He answered, as they walked off to Seb’s new home.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *generic TV voice* "Last week on Love Under the Stars…"  
> Seb goes out on a picnic in Central Park with Chris, where they share stories, and Chris shows off his artwork. Seb rushes off to class, before returning to his dorm room earlier than usual to confront Frank about his lazy drinking habits. But not to Seb’s surprise, Frank is passed out drunk when he gets back. Failing to get to his bed without making a sound, Frank wakes up, and drunkenly confesses that he has crush on Seb and that he loves him. They get into a fight, and in self defense Seb pushes Frank back and locks himself in the bathroom, angering Frank. A lot. After a while, an outsider rushes into their dorm and comes to Seb’s rescue. Who could it be? None other than Chris! After Frank is arrested, and Chris accompanies Seb to the police station/campus office, Seb decides he never wants to live in that dorm ever again, and is convinced to move in with his savior. *fades to black*

Running. Mud splashing. Crushed flowers in his path. Lungs expanding, contracting, expanding, contracting, over and over and getting faster and faster. Surrounding trees began collapsing in, in front of him, behind him and on both his left and right. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead, following the curve of his brow and dripping onto his soaked shirt. Turning around, running again in the opposite direction. It was no use. Every tall tree, the bushes, shrubs and even the clouds began closing in on him, the lungs inside him struggled to continue with their purpose until he finally tripped over his own weight and froze, lying on the muddy ground. 

“AHHHHHH!!” Seb screamed, jumping up and flinging his covers across the room, and unintentionally rolling off the couch Chris prepared for him. He gasped for air, reaching for whatever was around him to make sure wasn’t dead. It took him a few moments to realize where he was and that it was all a dream. Well, except the sweating part. And the lungs part. 

“Seb?” a groggy Chris voice resonated around the room. 

“Uhhm yea.” Seb cleared his throat and wiped away the moisture on his face. 

“Are you okay?”

Seb couldn’t see Chris so he spoke blindly into the darkness. “Uhmm yea.”

“Okay.” 

Silence.

“...Okay.”

“Goodnight.” Chris’s voice significantly decreased in volume, as he trailed back to his room half awake. 

“Noapte buna.”

“Yep.” A door closed. 

This charade happened probably at least 2 more times, with Seb waking up in a sweat-soaked shirt and racing heart each time. He couldn't stop hearing Frank's yelling and the pounding of the door in his head. He wanted to forget everything that happened. He wished for all his memories of Frank to disappear. Every time he exhaled, he felt a weight on his chest similar to the weight of Frank pinning Seb down on the floor. He pressed his head back into his pillow and shut his eyes tight, and tried to think about pretty much anything else.

3:00 AM. Go back to sleep. 

3:47 AM. Go back to sleep. 

4:05 AM. Go back to sleep. 

4:10 AM Go. Back. To. Sleep. 

4:11 AM. Fuck it. 

Seb sat up on the couch, giving up on the few hours of sleep he had left. It wouldn’t be much sleep anyways. He checked the time on his phone again, it was still 4:11. He didn’t have anything to do until the afternoon, and Chris wouldn’t be up until a few hours later. 

He ran his fingers through his sweaty hair, cringing at the wetness that transferred onto his hands. He looked around the room that was still dark, and felt a small rumble in his stomach. The pulsing feeling in his abdomen soon rose up to his throat and spread to his mouth, where his tongue started to feel dry. The feeling he couldn’t describe got stronger and stronger with each pulse, making any position he was sitting in uncomfortable. It felt kinda like butterflies, but worse. Like, wasps or something. Climbing up through his stomach and filling up his lungs. Seb took a few breaths but nothing happened. He tried laying down, but the couch was still damp. Standing up made the stomach rumblies worse. He crouched down on the floor next to the coffee table, wrapping his knees in his arms and just tried not to think about anything. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep with his head down in his lap. 

“Hey… Seb….wake up…”

Chris lightly tapped Seb on the shoulder, hoping not to startle him. He watched as his soft turquoise eyes opened up slowly and move around in confusion. 

“Huh?” Seb looked around, realizing that he had fallen soundly asleep. “What time?”

“Umm… it’s six thirty. Too early?”

“A little...” Seb groaned. 

“Sorry… uhm, so I have to go to a gym session at seven so I gotta leave but I left you some breakfast on the counter. And a set of keys.” Chris said softly. 

“Okay.”

“Are you gonna go back to sleep?”

“Yea, I didn’t get much last night.” Seb said with his eyes closed, still wrapped in his own arms on the floor. 

“Uhm.. you wanna get back on the couch?”

“No it’s wet.”

“What??”

“...Nothing.”

Chris stood up, considering leaving Seb basically lying under the coffee table before offering, “you wanna get on my bed?”

“...”

“Come on, Seb.” With gentle arms, Chris pulled Seb up onto his feet and dragged him towards his bedroom. Seb trudged along, his eyes still half closed. When they reached the bed, Chris let go of his arm and Seb fell onto the bed like a bag of sand. 

“Seb.” No response. “Seb.” Still no response. Chris lifted Seb’s legs onto the bed and pushed him towards the headboard, so his head was on a pillow. He went back to the living room to grab a blanket and tossed it over Seb’s body. 

“I’ll be back around 11, okay?”

Seb nodded, shifting his head so he could place his hand under the pillow, feeling the warmth that must’ve been from when Chris was sleeping. 

“Thank you...” Seb chirped, before Chris left the room.

Seb had told himself when Chris left that he would only sleep for another hour before getting up to see what was left for breakfast. But his body disagreed, leaving him only to wake up when he felt a hand on his shoulder. 

“Seb, it’s almost twelve already.” He recognized Chris’s voice. 

Seb’s eyes opened immediately, realizing he had somewhere to be in an hour. “Really?”

“Yea. Do you have class?”

“No but I have a meeting with the dean.”

“You better get ready then.”

Seb jumped off the bed, feeling around for any sweat on his shirt. All dry. He forgot his stuff back at the dorm so his current outfit would have to do for another day. 

“Here,” Chris threw some clothes on the bed and showed Seb the bathroom. “I figured you didn’t have any of your stuff, you can borrow some of mine for now. It might be a little big, but it’ll do.”

“Uh, thank you.” Seb gathered the clothing gently and followed Chris. “I’ll go by my dorm later and get my stuff.” He began to close the bathroom door when a hand stopped him. 

Chris’s voice got soft and serious. “You want me to come with?”

“No, it’s okay.” Seb looked up at the concerned eyes that stared him back. “I’ll be okay. I promise.”

“Okay. I’ll see you later then? I was thinking we have dinner out tonight?”

“Sure, that sounds nice.”

Chris lifted his hand off and Seb continued to get ready for the day. As he put on the t-shirt that was given to him, he noticed a significant amount of space left in the arm hole, and the cloth draped over his hip a much more lengthy amount. He pulled on the sweatpants, which were so long they covered his feet as he walked out into the living room. He looked down at his ridiculous outfit when he heard a soft chuckle from Chris, before glaring up at him with eyes that tried to be intimidating but looked innocently angry instead. 

“Aww, Seb, you look adorable!” He continued to laugh from behind the counter, as he pushed over a plate of waffles and fruit and told his new roommate to come over and eat. 

Seb trudged over in his overly long sweatpants and loose t-shirt and sat down, taking bites of waffle without a word. After he was done, he bent down and rolled his sweatpants up, making it more manageable to walk. He said bye to Chris in the lobby of the apartment building and left on his own. 

She walked down the street cautiously, checking every few steps that his sweatpants didn’t unroll themselves and touch the muddy sidewalk. It was definitely a hassle, costing him an extra five minutes on his way to the dean’s office, but he couldn’t return the expensive looking pants to Chris all soggy and muddy.

Seb followed a secretary into the office of Dr. Sousa and was invited to sit in a wide chair with that moss green scratchy fabric that feels uncomfortable with or without skin contact. On the other side of the desk was a man he had seen once before, months prior in a video chat when he was back home in Romania. The man looked no more than a few years older than 30, His slick gelled-back hair reminded him of the actors he saw in 50’s movies, and now that they were right across from each other, Seb could see he was much shorter in real life.

‘Good afternoon Sebastian. Nice to see you again, although I’m sad it has to be for such a disappointing reason. I just want to let you know how sorry I am, and we’re all taking this situation very seriously.’

‘Uh… thank you…’ Seb said quietly, feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed that the dean of the whole school probably knew all the details of what had happened to him. He felt so powerless and small. 

“I promise you that Rumlow does not represent us as a school, and he has already been expelled.”

“That’s… good…” Seb really didn’t know how to respond, both as a non-native English speaker and as someone who’s never experienced anything like this before.

“I’ve been informed you already have new living arrangements?”

“Yes, I have been living with Chris.”

Dr. Sousa typed the name into his keyboard, then paused and looked back at Seb, waiting for the rest of the name. 

“Uh, Chris Evans.”

There was more typing, then some clicking. 

“Ah. Mr. Evans. A great student, although he does get into a lot of trouble. Not bad trouble though. The kid just doesn’t have any sense of self-preservation. Gets into fights with bullies all the time. He thinks he can restore justice to the whole world or something.”

Seb smiled, remembering their first encounter in the cafeteria, where Chris stood up against Hugo. The dean’s smile got wider and wider as he continued talking about Chris.

“And one tim- actually, it was the first day of him freshman year, also my first day, he helped me with some car trouble. My crutches always get caught on the head-rest.”

Seb snapped back into attention, hearing the word ‘crutches’ and getting a flashback to when his neighbor broke his leg over summer before the third year of primary school while he was in America and did a play-by-play over the phone of how the emergency room visit went in his newly learned English. 

Seb noticed the metal crutches leaned on the desk behind Dr. Sousa and realized something else about the dean that he couldn’t see over video chat. 

“While all the other kids walked past and looked the way, Chris was the only one who offered to help. He’s a great guy. I’d keep him close, Sebastian. He’s truly one in a million.”

Seb smiled in agreement. They talked for a while more, about legal issues and other stuff, from college life to getting a job, to their favorite foods. 

It was well around dinnertime when Seb started walking home, he felt so happy and proud of himself for carrying a conversation not only in 100% English, but also without once feeling anxious (well except the part where they talked about Frank, and also the legal stuff). An extra burst of happiness rushed through Seb’s body when he remembered Chris was probably back at the apartment waiting for him, and couldn’t wait to get back to the apartment to see him again.


End file.
